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ARI WENT WITH a couple of hypertechs to talk about the technical recycling issues, while Iman and Fatima led Melati further into the maze of passages.
Melati had expected to be led to a place where there were a lot of computers, and she was surprised to be led to a room with no furniture and rows of mats on the floor.
“Prayer time,” Fatima said.
There were a few people already in the room, men and women, and more of them appeared from a door in the opposite side, dressed only in a thin white gown over their underwear. A few benches stood in the corridor outside the room, and they were full of helmets, black clothing and boots.
Melati stared at the faces that were normally hidden and didn’t recognise any of them. Most people joined the hypertechs in their teenage years when their fa
